Friday Coffee & Bookish Speaks – Story Repackaging

byJessicaonNovember 6, 2015

It’s ” that time again what are you drinking today?

I think I might go crazy and get an eggnog chai! Spicy and sweet. So tasty, but not so good for keeping weight off!

This week I want to talk about something that might push a few buttons. There is this trend mainly from two well-known authors we will keep unnamed that have come out with books lately that are just a rehash of stories they have already written. What I like to call story-repackaging.

It’s the same story we have all come to know and love (most of us) but from a different POV or changing some characters around. As a writer… I find it distasteful to the art of storytelling. If the author’s were doing it for fun… and in the privacy of their own home great. But no, They have to publish it and make the rest of us suffer what I feel is a mangling of the original story.

I just don’t understand why you would take time -to rewrite the same story, when you could add something different. Do a spin-off! That would be fun…. I just find that these authors might be succumbing to the pressure of their agents and publishers for something new and all they came up with is a re-telling of their now old story. It’s about the money it seems, and not the art of story-telling.

In my not so humble opinion, it’s a cheap marketing trick and they could do better.

Related

I couldn’t agree more with you! And the authors who do that should realise that the readers understand it when this happens and some of us might lose our respect for them. A spin-off would be a great alternative indeed!Aeriko @ The Reading Armchair recently posted…Review: Assassin’s Creed: Renaissance

Yeah it’s most unfortunate. There is one author in particular that I am disappointed in. She’s done it more than once! I loved the stories but all the merchandising and marketing (including the story-repackaging) has just made me sick of it. She has lost my respect. I hate when that happens!

There’s a few specific scenes in my favorite books I’d kill to see from another’s perspective, but I’d rather see that in a novella! The whole story, though…tacky 99.99% of the time.The Bibliophile Babe recently posted…Used Bookstores Are The Best

I think it’s the authors right to write whatever she/he wants and if they want to keep rewriting the same story then off they go! Doesn’t mean I’ll be buying it though or that I respect their creativity very much. I would also love to know how much is publisher driven.Trish @ Between My Lines recently posted…My To-Be-Read List : Nov 15 Pick it for me!